“Once visitors arrived there, they ended up stuck at that single destination, abandoning all plans to go around and enjoy the other attractions on the island,” Omar said. “They could not contemplate going... Show More + back on the same bad road, except for the final departure to the airport.”That has all changed since the implementation of the Central Transport Corridor Project 1. The $122 million World Bank Group-supported project helped construct three roads identified as crucial links – Pongwe-Matemwe (20.4kms); Mkwajuni-Nungwi (18.86kms) and Paje–Pingwe (19.8kms). Work on the roads started in 2005 and was completed in 2008.Kiwengwa resident Maulid Masud Amei said he felt the impact of the new roads was felt almost upon completion of construction.“This road brought us to the world,” Amei said of Pongwe-Matemwe Road. “We now feel like we are truly part of the world.”Where there was typically one lorry plying each of these routes to and from Stone Town, transportation of both people and goods has p Show Less -

The LIPW is just one part of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP), which recently received additional financing from the World Bank Group. The project aims to reduce poverty and... Show More + expand social opportunities for the poorest people through public works employment and grants for poor households. “The Ghana Social Opportunities Project supports Ghana’s efforts to fight poverty in the country’s poorest regions and to ensure that poor and vulnerable households are not left behind as the economy grows,” said Yusupha Crookes, World Bank Group country director for Ghana. “This will build on Ghana’s gains in recent decades, which include reducing the poverty rate from 52% in 1992 to 28% in 2006, and help the country to make faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.”The $50 million in additional financing will be used to extend the LIPW program from 49 to 60 districts, as well as increase the number of grants from 100,000 to 150,000 poor households thro Show Less -

“The APL was designed to support the KCC reform process and therefore phased its activities in a manner that was intended to focus on institutional strengthening in the first phase, to build a solid foundation... Show More + for expanding the focus on infrastructure investments in later phases,” said Moustapha Ndiaye, country manager for Uganda.The project had two sub-components, the institutional, and the infrastructure. Progress under the institutional component includes;Supported the Organizational Development and Governance at KCCA that led to the development of a comprehensive approach to municipal developmentReduced overdue liabilities from Ushs 8 billion to Ushs 3 billionIncreased in the share of KCC own source revenue spent on service delivery from 10% to 30%Increase in KCC own source revenue from Ushs 22 billion to Ushs 30 billionIncreased public satisfaction in service delivery in the following areas: roads from 18% to 50%, drainage from 22% to 31%, and solid waste from 44% to 60 Show Less -

LUSAKA, August 5, 2014 – Once dubbed a vehicle graveyard, the Lusaka-Chirundu Road is not only one of the most heavily used roads in Zambia, but it was also known to be one of the most dangerous.The road,... Show More + which connects the country to Zimbabwe and South Africa to the south, and Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region to the north, crosses a scenic but treacherous stretch of verdant hills and mountains. It is through these difficult peaks and troughs that trucks carrying goods often veer off the road and fall off the cliffs. As a result of the high mortality along this route, the section of the road that meanders through this treacherous terrain is infamously dubbed as Kapili Ngozi or “Hills of Danger” in the local language.But with an average of about 1,700 vehicles traveling the road daily, 20% of which are carrying heavy goods from neighboring countries, it is also Zambia’s most critical trade route between northern and southern African countries. Accord Show Less -

Since the implementation of the $122 million Central Transport Corridor Project (CTCP1), as part of a wider government and multi-donor effort to open up the central transport corridor, this stretch... Show More + of road has been rehabilitated, making the route easier and safer for trucks and travelers from the western regions of the country.As the central corridor of the national truck road system, it carries the highest volume of international freight across the country, usually between the strategic Port of Dar es Salaam to the east and western Tanzania, and regional destinations such as Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.With World Bank financing, the $45 million road construction began in May 2005, and included the creation of a new, all-weather alignment at a much lower altitude than the treacherous old road further up the escarpment. This automatically reduced travel time between Singida and Shelui from an average of five days to a maximum of 50 m Show Less -

“For us women, everything gravitates around the mangroves. Though we exploit its resources through oyster harvesting and fishing, we also work to preserve the ecosystem by planting new mangroves to foster... Show More + greater biodiversity. Our livelihoods depend on it,” says Rama Diatta, coordinator of the Biodiversity Conservation and Reduction of Poverty Program run by the Fédération Régionale des Groupements de Promotion Féminine (the Regional Federation of Women’s Empowerment Groups, or the RFGPF) based in Ziguinchor.Financed by Senegal’s Agence National de l’Aquaculture (National Aquaculture Agency or ANA) and the World Bank, the FRGPF is an organization composed of over 30, 000 women working to empower and employ local women. The goal is to help these women achieve financial independence and enable them to fulfill the needs of their families.“Indeed the oyster value chain has a huge potential for generating increased revenue for women in Casamance, especially with improvem Show Less -

The Agricultural Development and Rural Roads Rehabilitation Project (ADRRP), implemented in 2008 by the World Bank and the Congolese government, has now restored the region’s prosperity. “The repair of... Show More + this road is a great relief to the people of Tsiaki and Kingoué, because it lets us move our crops faster. It allows us to increase our production, which went down because of the transportation problem, since it was so hard to get to Mouyondzi, the biggest market center in the region,” says Benoît Mabiala, a resident of Tsiaki district.The bridge over the Louloulou River, which restored motorized traffic along the road, is a huge shot in the arm for the local economy. Production of bananas, yams, cassava, peanuts, beans, and all sorts of fruit is booming in the region.Long known as the Congo’s breadbasket, Bouenza Department in the south has the richest soil in the country. Mouyondzi, the main district, plays a special role. Merchants based there gather agricultural produce from the enti Show Less -

Wadshaifon Village, North Kordofan State, June 24, 2013- Some 20 km from the town of En Nuhood in central Sudan, the path to Wadshaifon Village turns sharply left off the paved road. Another kilometer... Show More + to the east through a low sandy rise, houses made of wood branches with cone-shaped roofs start to appear. Standing near a tent providing shade for visitors, Chief Hamdan Bakheit describes the challenges faced by his seven sons who all still live in the village. “We don’t have jobs in this community,” Bakheit says as he stirs up reddish dusty soil while walking towards a small cluster of sheep. At 70, the patriarch confesses he had been worried about the future of his family and community. As a young boy bending down near him milks one ewe, Bakheit breaks into a smile. The juvenile lamb looks aside and the fresh white milk is squirted into a bucket, spraying the sides as the milk hits the bucket bottom with a splash. “Now we have a large, strong herd of sheep for milking and ea Show Less -

KINSHASA, May 20, 2013—Along the Nlandu road to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital city Kinshasa, small businesses are springing up and local entrepreneurs are thriving. This is because Nlandu... Show More + road is newly renovated.“The occupancy rate in our hotel, which was almost zero before the renovation of avenue Nlandu, is now 80 percent,” says Adrien, a hotel manager along the main road. “Most of our guests come from other communities and they are the ones who are most surprised by the quality of the road.”The Nlandu road, along with several other arterial roads leading into Kinshasa, was rebuilt as part of the World Bank-financed Emergency Urban and Social Rehabilitation Project or PURUS. The US$180 million project included the rehabilitation of 40 kilometers of road in Kinshasa, 30 of which are completed and the last ten kilometers will be completed by the end of May. Thanks to the rehabilitation of the urban roads, the project will benefit two million people, giving them better acce Show Less -

Road traffic injuries place an enormous strain on health systems in low- and middle-income countries. In Kenya, it is estimated that up to 60 percent of all trauma patients were injured in road traffic... Show More + crashes. Further, road crash victims and their families in low- and middle-income countries risk falling back into – or being stuck in – poverty due to overwhelming medical costs, poor rehabilitative services, and lack of safety nets.Risks for pedestriansWalking is the most fundamental form of mobility, yet it is also the most vulnerable to road traffic injury. According to the World Health Organization's 2013 Global Status Report on Road Safety, over one-fifth of all road traffic deaths (270,000 annually) are pedestrians. In some countries, such as Ghana, the proportion of pedestrians among road traffic deaths is as high as 40 percent. Many risk factors contribute to the high vulnerability of pedestrians, including the speed of vehicles, alcohol, inadequate visibility, lack of ped Show Less -

July 17, 2007 – Gaping potholes, many official and unofficial checkpoints and miles and miles of uneven or unpaved dirt roads – this is the scene for motorists along part of the 2,000-kilometer stretch... Show More + that connects the Douala Port in western Cameroon to the country’s landlocked neighbors in N'Djamena, Chad and Bangui in the Central African Republic.The corridor, known as one of Africa’s worst for shippers struggling to get their goods to and from international markets, has hampered trade for thousands and is a substantial toll on the price of doing business regionally. The predicament is in sharp contrast to some parts of Africa where infrastructure projects have improved regional transportation.Dangerous Roads Hamper Trade“The current conditions are just deplorable. Our nightmare begins either in Douala, Cameroon, or in my country,” said Abdoulaye Dembélé, a timber truck driver from the Central African Republic. “It is a real battlefield. Road conditions will worsen during the rainy Show Less -